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A World Premiere in the Nation's Capital
Steal A Step is making its first show, and we need your help! Kick Before You Drown will premiere at the Capital Fringe Festival on July 7-14, 2016, at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Washington DC. The show will explore the lengths people will go to be desired and what they will sacrifice in themselves to find intimacy.
Our goals for the show include the following:
- Push the bounds of contemporary circus into performance art
- Expose American audiences to a new art form
- Challenge the notion that proximity is necessary for creative collaboration
We have our cast, our acts, and our music . . . and now we just need your help to turn on the lights and bring this show to the stage.
Watch our appeal video.
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What is Steal A Step? What is contemporary circus?
Steal A Step grew out two movement innovators’ desire to stretch the bounds of American circus and to create ephemeral and authentic experiences for the performer and audience. American circus has been traditionally viewed as clowns, animals, and show girls, but in Europe and Canada contemporary circus is already well established and respected as a mix of circus skill, theater, and dance. It is expected to provoke emotion rather than to focus solely on technical skill.
In trying to apply the lessons of postmodernism to circus, Steal A Step is trying to stretch the bounds of American contemporary circus into performance art through non-linear shows that challenge the rules of settled society and invite the audience to enter the artistic fray.
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Founder Joshua Handal holds a bachelor’s degree in contemporary circus performance from the Ecole de Cirque de Quebec, one of the most prestigious circus arts programs in Northern America. While in Canada, he worked with his trapeze partner Marie to create contemporary and abstract movement on duo trapeze through their brand Duo Josh and Marie. Combining dissonant music with abrupt and often spastic changes in movement, the duo set out to challenge preconceptions in the discipline. Josh also has a degree in mechanical engineering and business from The University of Virginia and is an accomplished pianist and composer.
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Founder Jessica John is a circus artist, coach, and choreographer who specializes in aerial rope, fabric, and dance trapeze. An ardent movement researcher, she was a competitive athlete, a teenage "rockette," and a ski bum, before finding a passion for the circus arts. Jessica challenges gender stereotypes through displays of virtuosic strength and flexibility and creates empathetic space for her characters through rich storytelling and compelling visuals. A sixth generation New Orleanian, Jessica is the creative and managing director of Vaudoux Aerial Dance Theatre. Jessica also has a degree in political science from the University of Colorado, a master’s degree from George Washington University, and a law degree from Boston University.
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How Far Will You Go?
Through our crowdfunding campaign, we are attempting to raise $10,000. This is the bare minimum that we need to transport our artists to DC and pay them. Our costs will total over $20,000, however, which we are attempting to raise through fundraising, sponsorships, and ticket sales. Everything that you can donate over $10,000 will diminish the stress on other funding sources and improve the quality of our show.
By donating to this show, you are making art possible. You are contributing to a discipline in flux and exposing new audiences to contemporary circus. Donating to our show at any level will get you endless appreciation and, if you are lucky, scantily clad circus artists spelling out your name in chocolate syrup on their bodies. You folks are rockstars.
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Other Ways To Help
If you are a starving artist with no money to spare, we feel you. You can still help us by spreading the word on social media to friends, family, or wealthy patrons about Steal A Step, Kick Before You Drown, and this campaign. You have spare airline miles? You would like to cater our rehearsals? Sponsor our late-night wine binges? Know a guy who can print our programs super cheap? Send all that love our way. And enjoy the show.
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This production is presented as a part of the 2016 Capital
Fringe Festival, a program of the Washington DC non-profit Capital
Fringe.
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Steal A Step is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Steal A Step must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only. Any contribution above the value of the goods and services received by the donor is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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